The Man in the tower (An Ostracon Story)

A frustrated king

Intro

Hey there and thanks for clicking on this story. I'm Jack and I'm the creator of Ostracon, a worldbuilding exercise I have recently undertaken. I decided early on , writing short stories would be a fun way to show the world and ideas I have in a digestible way. I am not a writer, and apart from high school, this is the first story I have ever written, so im sure it will be terrible! But it will only get better in time, I have alot of ideas for Ostracon and this is a long term project, so if you are here, all i can do is hope you join me on this journey!

This story is actually set way in the past from where I my current time setting, i thought it would be a good way to experiment with writing without causing too many problems down the line. I will try and release a chapter every few days. So lets have some fun :)

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Another day, another useless meeting. Looking around the well decorated office, the king was not alone, he was with his advisor, and an anxious looking servant. The king hated meetings like this, the constant battle with the council, the constant pain of having to rely on 12 people to approve your ideas. Painful. Today was another defeat in the council, the king was attempting to raise funds to build a brand new magic university in the capital, it would cost a lot, but the kings love of magic, even if he was a useless mage, would make it worth it. But the council was not so enthusiastic with spending 1/4 of the years taxes on a school. So he was one vote off the 7 needed. More pain. His advisor, a stern looking man, had advised his Farther as well as him, had called this meeting to discuss a plan to get the councillors on board. He hated plans. The kings would rather be out there on the battlefield, like he was 20 years ago, but that time had long passed. "Your Majesty, i think we can get the councilman from Bronja to turn, you just need to give him some, compensation". "What kind of compensation are we talking about here Geras", "Gold" Geras quickly responded, "How much", "500 Your Majesty". The king didn't know weather to laugh or cry, 500 gold would nearly make him bankrupt. "Ill think it over Geras" With that, the king was alone. Needing time to think, he went for a walk.

Walking through the castle, the king found himself in the ancient side, the one built well before the records of this kingdom began. Its strange markings in the walls and unknown languages had an feeling of power to them, a power long lost. A cold wind ran through this area, even though the windows where kept shut. The animals stayed away, apart from the rats. It was a strange place to be. Currently used as a store room and rarely visited by staff, the king could finally think. "What to do, what to do", he thought. The gold he could afford, but it would make a bad impression on the rest of the councilmen, he wasn't a powerful mage, apart from the crown on his head, he wasn't really good at anything. The school would make the money back in time he thought. As he was thinking it through, he noticed something odd, the room had started to get dark, very dark. It was still midday, why is it dark. Looking around for answers he noticed a faint glow on one of the shelves.

He walked over to the shelf and saw what almost looked like a key, but instead of 3 prongs at the end, it had a sphere with 1000's of tiny prongs, a small inscription ran down the length of it, unreadable. Not knowing what to do, the king picked up the odd key looking item and the instant he did, his whole body stiffened, frightened and unable to move, he started to sweat. The king felt his veins go cold and his eyes where forced shut. In total darkness he lost all feeling, apart from his breathing. From the darkness came one loud noise "OPEN THE GATEWAY", he could of sworn the person was standing inches away from him . Then as quickly as the paralysis had started, it stopped. He dropped the key and fell to the ground. Exhausted, he caught his breath. Looking around to see who just screamed in his ear, no one was there, it was just him and the rats, as it was before.

He quickly exited the storage room, through the same way he came in an a few minutes earlier, passing the office and entering the throne room, he could think of nothing but those three words "Open the Gateway", which gateway was it referring to, there is of course the old gateway in the courtyard, but that is of the gods, untouchable. Surely it must be the stress , playing games with his mind. He had many questions and due to the lack of magic ability and knowledge, he had to seek out help. The king could only think of one man that could help in this situation, he didn't want to speak to him after the last time, but he had no other choice. The man the king wanted to speak to was an enemy of the kingdom, held in there most secure facility, a floating island only accessible by the kings personal mage staff.

On the short journey to the island, the king had some time to think, last time he saw "Bon" they where friends, fighting on the front lines of the last Ostra Tear, fighting both Angels and Demons alike, but that was 20 years ago, now Bon sat locked away. How had it come to this. As he was flown up to the island the king managed to look back and see Renjau, the capital, on the horizon, the split from ancient to new was striking, the brick work, style, even colour showed how far the kingdom had come from the ancient times. In a good or bad way, it was hard to tell. All he knew was, he lived in an amazing place.

Landing on the island, the prison was a magnificent sight, built by the best Builder Mages of the kingdom, it was a foreboding structure, 2000 feet straight up into the air, spikes coming off the side and a few small Brontas flying around the perimeter keeping watch. On the tower you could see many small holes with bars , assumedly windows, but they could hardly give enough light to see. The top of the tower is where the true wonder was, a pure ball of mana, rising above the tower, like a small sun, used to power the shield field that surrounded the whole island. Inescapable. After the king was on land, he met with the chief prison guard. The king looked at the guard intensely, as a memory started to form. "Do i know you from somewhere", the king enquired. "Yes, your majesty, i was in your battalion , leading the anti demon bomber squad". "I remember now, you where damn good at your job.", "Thanks your majesty", the guard bowed. "How is he?", "How is Bon your Majesty? Well, its better if you just see him yourself" The king nodded, "Take me to him." An anxiety started to grow in the king, he could not remember the last time he and Bon had spoke, 5, maybe 10 years. He should of done better, he was his friend, but also the king. On the short walk over to the tower, the king felt a pain in the hand in which he picked up the key, looking down, he noticed a burn, definitely not stress.